My plan for Sunday May 25 was to go to Kasson for the USMTS. The weather forecast had suggested possible thunderstorms so I kept an eye on the weather throughout the day. The forecast for Kasson showed a 70% chance of storms including possible severe weather. At 2pm I decided to order a pizza and spend the evening watching NASCAR on television. Our pizza delivery coincided with tornado sirens and a storm that produced high winds and marble sized hail. The power went out around the time the green flag flew at Charlotte and we ended up eating pizza in the basement. When the storm subsided I went out to see if any of the neighbors knew how long the power would be out. That's when I found out about the Hugo tornado that occurred just north of my son's house. My son and his family were spending the weekend with my daughter-in-law's family in Deer Park, Wisconsin, so we knew they weren't in any physical danger. A few cell phone calls revealed that his house in Hugo did not sustain any significant damage. A few people I know live in the area that was hardest hit and I'm still waiting to find out how they fared. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who was affected by this tragedy.
As it turns out the Kasson USMTS race was not rained out but I'm not second guessing my decision to stay home. The power outage lasted from 4pm Sunday until approximately 3am Monday. Anybody who has a sump pump knows what happens when you get a downpour and the power gets knocked out. Let me put it this way, my Navy bucket brigade training came in real handy. If I had gone to the races my wife wouldn't have been able to handle it by herself and I'd be ripping up basement carpet today. Instead of watching the Coca Cola 600 I sat in the dark and listed to “The Dark Side of the Moon” on my MP3 player.
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